SABC chair ‘must not be a JZ lackey’

The DA has cast doubt on the integrity of the replacement for former SABC board chairperson Ellen Tshabalala, who resigned late last year.

DA shadow minister of communications Gavin Davis said the DA hoped the outcome of the appointment process had not been preordained by those close to President Jacob Zuma.

The process of finding a replacement for Tshabalala is under way.

Parliament’s communications portfolio committee will interview candidates to fill Tshabalala’s position on March 25 and the deadline to nominate candidates is today.

Davis said it was up to the committee to choose the right candidate based on their suitability

for the job and not their political connections.

Emphasising the need to appoint a suitable individual, Davis said: “An independently-minded individual with the skills and the temperament to turn the SABC around and prevent its slide towards a political mouthpiece should appointed.”

SA Communist Party (SACP) spokesperson Alex Mashilo described the DA’s comments as an attack on Zuma.

“The attack on President Jacob Zuma by the DA reflects nothing but an agenda to preserve white racist privilege which is what they had, so far, proven they mean by independence,” said Mashilo.

“The racial composition of the DA in parliament and in the Western Cape power corridors is what they mean by independence.”

However, Mashilo said the SACP wanted a competent board and board chairperson capable of taking the SABC forward.

Tshabalala’s resignation came in the wake of revelations she lied under oath about her qualifications.

The committee uncovered that Tshabalala did not complete the degrees from Unisa as listed on her CV and that she lied in the sworn affidavit submitted to parliament in lieu of her academic qualifications.

Tshabalala, who is alleged linked romantically to Zuma, claimed in the affidavit she could not provide her qualification certificates as they had been stolen in a burglary.